MASCULINE / MASCULINE AT THE MUSEE D'ORSAY

I was lucky enough to be in Paris at the time of this exhibition, Masculine/Masculine: The Nude Man in Art from 1800 to the Present Day, which took place in my favourite space in Paris, the Musée d'Orsay.
The exhibition was really thorough and contained a surprising amount of contemporary depictions of the male nude.

ANA MENDIETA: TRACES

I went to see Ana Mendieta's first UK retrospective Traces at the Hayward Gallery and was really taken by how powerful the work was. My understanding of this kind of very raw, confrontational and at times disturbing work is partially limited as I am part of a very different generation of feminist artistic expression and am aware that a lot of her explorations as a young artist were relevant to her location and the time in which she was working. However, this Cuban American artist and sculptor had big things to say throughout her varied life and now posthumously, once again had a voice.

I thought of all the works displayed in this retrospective, her reaction and subsequent recreation of the rape and murder of a student at the University of Iowa was particularly resonant. Friends and classmates were invited to enter her apartment (finding the door ajar) and walked in to find the distressing scene of a murdered Mendieta tied up and covered in blood.

Throughout her works she repeats themes of life and death, feminism, belonging and identity. Her body-earth work is particularly beautiful. It reminded me of a mixture between Antony Gormley's recurring motif of the human form and Andy Goldsworthy's often delicate manipulation of elements of the natural world. However, uniquely Mendieta's work has its own theatrical, often eery, film-like quality.

It's often hard to separate an artist's life and their work, but even harder with an artist such as Mendieta, who's legacy has been somewhat overshadowed by her tragic and premature death. In 1985 she fell 34 floors from her New York apartment block at the young age of 36, inciting speculation of murder by her fellow artist and husband of eight months Carl Andre. This being said (and given I was largely unfamiliar with the artist's work) I really wanted to experience Traces as neutrally as possible, without consideration of the artist's scandalized baggage and entirely in it's own right- as I felt it should be viewed.

Through fire, mud, blood and water I stepped in and back out of the ballsy world of this intriguing artist, finding that sometimes I was able to connect to her ideas and sometimes I was not; it felt like a journey and I think that is exactly what she would have intended.

FUNNY? HANG ON A TICK AND YOU MIGHT FIND OUT

Tonight I went to a recording of the BBC Radio 4 show Bridget Christie: Minds the Gap. Though I found that her comedy wasn't exactly my humour, I can confirm that she was indeed funny and her jokes were clever. Crucially, I made this judgement after her show and thus, having heard her material. It was really interesting to hear about a woman comedian's experiences- or rather struggles- in the world of stand-up comedy. Her overall message was that women seem to have a deficit to pay off before they even get on to the stage, immediately deemed 'unfunny' because of their sex. She urged people to by all means judge women comedians, but to give them the same chance to be unfunny as their male counterparts, instead of assuming they won't be because...well obviously women just aren't funny and also (lest we forget) cannot drive. 

If anyone reading this has recently felt the sharp burn of being negatively stereotyped, for whatever reason, be thankful you aren't trying to break through as a female comedian. 

R B KITAJ: OBSESSIONS

I wrote copy for the Art Fund's R B Kitaj exhibition page. I find Kitaj to be a really intriguing artist. Read it here.

Image courtesy of L.A Louver Gallery and Marlborough Gallery, Inc

RAISING AWARENESS

Watch this great sound bite Latimer Creative Media produced. I carried out the interviews and got to meet an array of inspirational women. 

And eat an array of pretty tasty buffet food. Mmm yum. 

Look out for my nodding head and peachy top!

TELEPHONE CALL

WEIRD BLOG ALERT...My very brave, and recently widowed aunt reminded me today, that there are so many amazing support groups out there. Scary? Yes. Worthwhile? Massive YES. Accepting you might need support from others is only ever a good thing! After checking out her recent find, I was reminded that interacting with those who have been through similar tough times is vital and can manifest itself in a variety of WAYs.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

The past 9 months have been particularly important for women everywhere striving for equality within their various communities. I am reminded of the tragic gang rape of the student in New Delhi and wonder whether things are getting better for marginalized women around the world.

A close friend of mine recently returned from Swaziland having helped educate girls and young women about their ability to say 'no' and the growing power that this word is having for women in areas of Africa. That cheered me up slightly. 

WINTER CRUSH

Political commentator Owen Jones has definitely become a favourite of mine. After I read CHAVS: The Demonization of the Working Class-  a brilliant read- I started reading his column in the Independent and found that ever-so-gradually I was becoming quite the groupie. Tories have him pinned as naive, pioneering the voice of the working class at every turn with relentless idealism. However, I, like many, think he is a talented writer who poses interesting ideas about the British class system. I was very happy to hear that he won the Young Writer of the Year award at the 2013 Political Book Awards.

Plus, he's not afraid to make things awkward, kudos to him for openly defending Palestine. Watch him on Question Time, he was pretty awesome.

GO SARAH

Recently I discovered the work of artist Sarah Maple. I really love some of her ideas, yes yes, granted her work isn't revolutionary, it's nothing feminist art hasn't seen before, but actually sometimes it isn't a bad thing to be reminded of issues that have as much resonance today as they ever did.

Maple dives head-first into controversy, combining a strong attitude towards women's rights with an exploration of her Muslim upbringing. She churns out confident, squirm-inducing work that (for a generation of twenty-somethings bombarded by female 'icons' like Taylor Swift...oh Taylor), is a welcome shake-up.

My personal favourites are her aspirational Disney princesses who zealously inhabit 'typically male' work environments. Check out Belle yelling at the ref!

Maple gave an interview with the Independent recently; I liked her straight-forward ballsy attitude towards critics. Also she called them "lazy" for comparing her to Tracey Emin. Good for her. All in all I am excited by young women in their 20s overtly addressing feminist issues in their art.

Also hats off to her for propagating the NO MORE PAGE 3 campaign, which aims to change the presentation of women in the British press. Go Sarah.

Check Sarah Maple out here.

REVIEW FOR THE ART FUND 1

The 2012 Taylor Wessing Photography Prize yet again showcases some of the world’s most exciting photography talent. The exhibition is a feast for the eyes; it bustles excitedly with the faces of both visitors and portrait subjects and is refreshing in its presentation of both the familiar and unknown. Portraits of athletes, writers and artists share an equal stage with the anonymous, weird and wonderful, such as second-prize winner Jennifer Pattison’s bold shot, ‘Lynne, Brighton’. Matthew Niederhauser’s portrait of controversial Chinese artist Ai-Weiwei is stark and relevant at the entrance to the exhibition, an apt welcome into a dynamic and contemporary show. National Portrait Gallery until February 2013 

HOLLYWOOD/SOUTH KENSINGTON

If you haven't seen the new, glamorous exhibition at the V&A, where the hell have you been? In fact who are you? Well to be fair, you might just be someone who didn't want to pay the ever-so-slightly extortionate ticket price. However, if like me you are savvy enough to own a National Art Pass (getting you 50% off), you can moonwalk into this exhibition backwards with a knowing grin.

And what a feast of a show! Highlights for me were seeing the original Darth Vader costume (which by the way is huge), Marilyn Monroe's fly-away white dress and trying to casually snuggle up to the jacket Heath Ledger wore in Brokeback Mountain (shout out to great V&A security for disciplining me on that one).

 The best thing about this exhibition is that it is curated really, REALLY well. Well done to Professor Deborah Nadoolman and her team. Nice moody lighting and suitably epic music too! Go V&A, bring on Bowie in March...

© V&A IMAGES